[Air-l] Re: How anti-Iraq war protesters employed technology

[Art McGee]

> As a follow up of this discussion, I wonder if anybody has
> got any sources to point to as to the organization of
> anti-war demonstrations via the internet?

I do, but I can't disclose them, because they're not public.

While the activity you see above board and featured in the
mainstream media is highlighting those activities where
white people predominate, there is a major undercurrent of
organizing activity amongst people of color, especially in
the United States, that is a part of a meta-dialogue which
ties together the organizing that was done pre-911 for the
World Conference Against Racism and feeds into the growing
demand for Reparations for Black African-descendents in the
U.S. and elsewhere.

Much of this work does not occur in full view of the public
because of it's sensitive nature. It manifests itself in the
larger public activities, but it's not something you can
just signup to an email list to join in on. People of Color,
and especially Black people, having a 500 year legacy of
genocidal-like policies to deal with, are less interested
right now in drawing the biggest crowd, and more concerned
with being able to trust, develope lasting political
relationships, and build movements. Long after the white
folks go home or get bored with anti-war work, people of
color will continue to be racially profiled and have their
humanity assaulted on a daily basis. While white folks act
like we just hit a crisis, Black people and other people of
color in the U.S. knew there was a crisis back in November
of 2000 when the ghost of American Apartheid reared it's
ugly head, again.

The missing element in all the so-called analysis thus far
is that while we have more speed and breadth, we have little
depth. There are more people on the streets now, but is this
actually building a long-term movement for social justice,
one that will go beyond dealing with the current fascist
leader of the U.S. and deal with the ongoing injustices
which started with the birth of modern Capitalism. As any
idiot knows, Globalization didn't start with NAFTA, the WTO,
the World Bank, or any other multilateral institution, it
started with the Atlantic Slave Trade. Black bodies are
the original commodities of the global market. Have the
postmodern theoreticians, anarchists, cyberfeminists, and
academics learned nothing from the legacy of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other grassroots
organizing movements? Let's take all this newfangled
technology, remove our heads from our asses, and start using
it to build and nurture real communities, the places where
if a bullet hits you, you can't just press the "new game"
button.

Things were fucked up before September 11th, they were
fucked up after September 11th, and they'll continue to be
fucked up, war or no war, until people start thinking and
working together in a more systemic and long-term manner.


Art